Iraq’s military offensive to liberate the city of Mosul from ISIL’s control continued on Sunday as reports said Iraq’s joint military forces managed to seize back the ancient city of Nimrud 30 kilometers to the South of Mosul.

Iraqi Forces Win Back Ancient City of Nimrud Near Mosul

Iraq’s joint military forces managed to seize back the ancient city of Nimrud 30 kilometers to the South of the city of Mosul.

“The Iraqi army’s Ninth Armored Division inflicted heavy losses on the ISIL terrorists after taking full control of Nimrud ancient city and its surrounding areas,” senior Iraqi Commander Major General Abdel Amir Yarallah said on Sunday.

Iraq’s joint military forces are now in full control of the ancient city.

Popular Forces’ Commanders Blast US for Troubling Mosul Operation

Commanders of popular forces in Iraq lashed out at the US-led coalition for hindering the operation to fully liberate Mosul.

“The popular and resistance forces are not pleased with the US-led international coalition’s presence in Nineveh operations since they do not coordinate operations with the popular forces in the Western front,” Spokesman and a senior commander of Iraq’s Kata’ib Hezbollah (Hezbollah Battalions) popular forces Jafar al-Hosseini told FNA on Sunday.

He said that the popular forces have called on the government to exclude the US-led coalition from the Western front.

Iraqi Forces Continue to Advance in Eastern Mosul

Iraq’s joint military forces continued to move ahead in several directions inside Mosul and seized back several more districts Southeast of the city, while the ISIL has resorted to dispatching female suicide bombers to war fronts to prevent the army’s further advances.

“The Iraqi forces entered the Eastern flank of the city from the Southeastern side and purged terrorists from al-Entesar, Jadideh al-Mufti, al-Shima, al-Salam and Youness al-Sabawi regions as well as all the villages located to the North of al-Zab river,” Senior Iraqi Commander Abdel Amir Rashid Yarallah said on Sunday.

ISIL Attacks Village in Central Iraq with Chemical Shells

ISIL attacked a village in the Central Iraqi Salaheddin province with the shells of chlorine gas, killing at least three people, a local source reported.

The source said terrorists fired at the village over 15 mortar shells containing chemical chlorine, Al-Sumeriya reported.

“The ISIL attacked a village in Al-Shirqat region with more than 15 mortar shells, some of those containing toxic chemical chlorine. As a result of firing three people were killed, two were wounded, among them women and children. Material damage was done, as well,” the source further added.

ISIL Orders Militants’ Withdrawal to Mosul City Center

Commander of ‘We Are Coming Nineveh’ Military Operation Najm al-Jabouri said the ISIL has ordered its militants to withdraw from their positions to the center of the city of Mosul.

“The advances made by the Iraqi forces from several directions have resulted in ISIL’s withdrawal to Mosul city center,” the Arabic-language media quoted al-Jabouri as saying on Sunday.

The commander said that ISIL’s withdrawal order came from fear of confrontation with the Iraqi security forces.

He noted that Iraq’s joint security forces are forcefully and rapidly advancing towards towns located to the East and North of Mosul city.

Iraqi Forces Kill 30 Militants, Defuse 30 Car Bombs in Mosul

Forces of Iraq’s Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) purged ISIL militants from two districts in Eastern Mosul and began advancing in a third neighborhood.

CTS commander Lieutenant-General Abdul Wahab al-Saidi made the announcement, while adding that 30 militants were killed in the process, presstv reported.

He said that Iraqi forces are now fully in control of the district of al-Arbajiya and are currently halfway through purging the adjacent al-Qadisiya al-Thaniya district.

Exclusive: Iraqi forces hunting down Daesh terrorists near Mosul

Report: 3 US troopers killed in Jordan

US Raqqa “Counter-terrorism” Operation Is Aimed at Denying Syria Peace

Making a very interesting, yet a serious, move, the US has announced operation “Euphrates Anger”, to be conducted by Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a coalition of different US-backed militias, to re-take the city of Raqqa, the current capital of the Islamic State in Syria. While the announcement has come just three weeks after the beginning of the operation to liberate the city of Mosul, IS’ capital in Iraq, and seems a ‘logical’ development, there is much more to Raqqa operation than simply meets the eye. On the surface, this operation is purely anti-IS and is aimed at symbolically defeating the group by capturing its ‘capital’. In reality, however, this operation is aimed at strengthening the US-backed forces in Syria and thereby disturb the Syrian army’s battle for Aleppo.

This is evident from the contradiction that has been inserted in this operation from the very beginning. Consider this: according toBrett McGurk, US President Barack Obama’s counter-Islamic State envoy, the main idea behind the re-taking of Raqqa by the SDF is:

When it comes to Raqqa we want a force that ultimately liberates Raqqa that is primarily from the local area, Arabs from the area, and so we have trained many of these fighters and that force will continue to grow as we get to the subsequent phases of the campaign.

A pertinent question that arises here is this: If the US was really serious about engaging a local force to liberate the city of Raqqa, which other force could have been better and more “local”, having a legitimate local base, than Syria’s own army, which is currently battling IS and other groups in the city of Aleppo?

Of course, the US and its allies would not want to have Syrian army as its ally, nor wold they want it to appear as the liberator. Their objective of keeping Syria immersed in conflict, and the ultimate objective of destroying Syrian army and dismantling Assad as its president, can be met only when the Syrian army remains engaged in battles either against the Islamic State or against the US-backed SDF.

Therefore, placement of SDF as the leading fighting force in Raqqa is a very calculated move to deny the Syrian or Russian militaries the chance to actually liberate the city from the clutches of sponsored-terrorism…………

……..The US clearly estimates that the Syrian military and its Russian allies are sooner than later going to liberate Raqqa. Given this, the US does not want to suffer another public relations setback, the kind of which it had earlier suffered at the time of liberation of Palmyra and the kind of which they are suffering now when Aleppo is heading towards an eventual fall at the hands of Syrian and Russian forces.

The US, therefore, wants to have its own “victory” in Raqqa before the Syrians and the Russians can have theirs. As one analyst has put it aptly, “If the SDF is able to “take” Raqqa, the US will then be able to shout from the rooftops that America has liberated Raqqa and defeated ISIS in its own capital.”

However, this situation is setting a dangerous stage, likely to cause more harm than good to the people of Syria. For them the situation would qualitatively remain the same if they are subdued by IS or by the US-backed so-called “local forces” i.e. the SDF. Militarily and ideologically trained on the same lines as IS, there is little in it to doubt that SDF would not impose its own ‘jihadist fanaticism’ on the people of Raqqa, creating an essential context for the Syrian army to move towards Raqqa to liberate its territory and its people from these terror forces………

The Syrian Army has given Jeish al-Fatah terrorists in Eastern Aleppo city a 24-hour ultimatum to surrender, military sources said Sunday.

“Concurrent with the army soldiers’ large-scale operation in the Western and Southwestern parts of Aleppo, the army has given 24 hours to the militants to lay down arms and leave the Eastern districts of the city,” the sources said.

“The army has warned terrorists of incoming attacks after the deadline,” they added.

The sources said the army has told the militants “we give 24 hours to all the militants in the Eastern districts of Aleppo to decide and leave the city. Your abroad-based commanders cannot save you. Those who want to remain alive must lay down their army and in return we ensure their security. After the deadline ends, our attack will start, using the most precise weapons”.

The Syrian army has sent the ultimatum to the mobile phones in Aleppo in the form of SMS messages after its victories against militants in the Western parts of Aleppo city on Friday and Saturday.

Some media sources said that after the army’s ultimatum to the terrorists to exit Aleppo’s Eastern neighborhoods, reconnaissance planes have been continuously flying over the city.

The Jeish al-Fatah coalition of terrorist groups is on the verge of collapse after its repeated failures in the first and second waves of the Great Epic Operation in Western and Southwestern Aleppo city.

After the terrorist groups sustained crushing defeats their offensive on the Western and Southwestern parts of Aleppo, codenamed Great Epic Operation, and suffered thousands of casualties, military sources now say that the terrorist front is on the verge on collapse.

“The recent victories of the Syrian army and popular forces in Southwestern Aleppo and liberation of Housing Project 1070, al-Hikmah School, army’s advances in the neighborhood of al-Rashedeen, the Western flank, government forces’ successful cleansing operation in Zahiyeh al-Assad and Menyan districts and the continued defeats of the terrorists in Jam’iyat al-Zahra district have caused the terrorists to grow hopeless, paralyzed and depressed,” the sources said on Saturday.

“The terrorists are now accusing each other of betrayal. The accusations find their roots in the escape of several terrorist commanders from battlefields in Western Aleppo and their shooting at each other,” the source added.

The army soldiers imposed full control over Zahiyeh al-Assad district and then carried out mop-up operation to hunt the remaining militants hidden in the buildings, the sources said.